


Put One Foot In Front Of The Other

by abiotic_butterfly



Category: Papillon (2018)
Genre: Gen, Henri “Papillon” Charriere, Louis Dega - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 08:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20288116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abiotic_butterfly/pseuds/abiotic_butterfly
Summary: Papillon couldn’t take Louis’s plan of staying on Devil’s island. So he just didn’t listen.Since it broke my heart I decided to change that bit of the ending. This is more of a heavy friendship because even if I think maybe they liked each other a little more. Since they were real people I didn’t wanna do anything heavily romantic wise. So it’s like hard core friendship which explains them well.





	Put One Foot In Front Of The Other

It was all set, the perfect day, the perfect weather, the perfect plan. And the two of us were about to finally be free. Away from the people who brought hell upon us and off to start new lives wherever we landed.

The only problem was I could see Louis hesitate when we looked over the edge of the cliff. 

I had doubts about if he would go along with my plan considering how apparently well he was doing on Devil’s island. He was painting and smoking and smiling, even with broken glasses and horrible living conditions. He seemed at peace. And that was something that scared me.

I had thrown our contraption into the water, watching as it seemed to fall forever before it crashed and dented the swaying water below us. 

Now it was our time to jump, but I knew, deep down that he wasn’t going to go with me. That something was holding him back and I’ll never really know what. 

“Ready?” 

I asked anyway, but he gave me that look. The one full of sorrow and heartbreak, but nonetheless determination. 

“I- I can’t go…”

I swallowed and looked back to the sea, it was the horizon of promise. We were so close to succeeding. 

“You can’t…we have to go.” I tried to reason with him. 

“I belong here. You don’t.” 

I stared at him solemnly, resigned to the fact that our friendship was about to end. The man who I spent the hardest parts of my life with was about to leave me. 

I pulled him into a hug, and I thought about what I was going to do. How could I go on without him? I’d always stayed for him, I’ve survived for him. And him in return. 

I didn’t know how pissed he would be, but I had to do it. I had to prove that he was worth saving too. 

So when I released him from the hug, and I nodded at him, looking back towards the cliff like I was about to jump-

I grabbed his hand and I pulled him with me, not backing down when he stumbled and yelled at me to stop. I ran us both over the cliff. 

The two of us screaming as we fell through the air and crashed into the water. Diving deeper and deeper into the water. So deep I didn’t think I’d be able to find my way out of it. 

Our hands disconnected when we hit the water and I pushed my way to the top, gasping in all the air I could as I looked around for Louis. 

I couldn’t find him. 

My immediate reaction was going back down, opening my eyes despite the pain and looking around the clear blue water for him.

And that’s of course how I found him listlessly floating under the water. His injured leg being the reasonable explanation for his lack of swimming. 

So I swam down and I grabbed onto him, tugging him up to the surface where I took a deep breath and checked him over. “Louis? Louis!” I shook his body, hoping to get a response. 

When nothing happened I lugged us over to the raft we’d built out of bottles and threw us both onto it. After laying him down I pumped his chest, and gave him mouth to mouth. 

“Louis…Louis please…” 

My eyes watered as I looked at his lifeless face, I couldn’t have pulled him over the cliff to end his life. To have us never make up and be friends. To have his last memory be me betraying him. 

A sputtering noise startled me and I saw him shaking as he coughed up water. He tried to situate himself on the raft, looking around alarmed. 

“I- I can’t see- god. Did we make it Papillon?” He was shaking as he looked at me, a smile and a grimace on his face.

“Yeah, we made it.” 

He nodded, and looked away, staring at nothing. 

“I told you I didn’t want to leave.” He replied.

“I know, but I can’t- you know I can’t leave you right? After all these years of having to save your ass. Did you really think I’d let you rot on Devil’s island?” I shook my head and laughed brokenly. 

I placed my hand on his back and rubbed, trying to be comforting yet not breaking boundaries. 

“Yeah, I guess it wasn’t my greatest plan.” His lips, cracked and bloody, pulled at the ends into a smile.


End file.
